Information for pupils: cohort 2024

Information for young people invited to take part

The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) is carrying out some important research on lessons about nude image based abuse. These lessons are called ‘Send Me a Pic?’.

We are doing this research in lots of schools across England. At each school, pupils and staff in up to two randomly selected Year 8 and Year 9 classes will be involved. This leaflet sets out important information about the research to help you decide whether you would like to take part.

Who is carrying out this research?

NatCen is an independent organisation working to improve people’s lives through research. Our work helps organisations like schools, charities, and government departments to understand more about people’s views on and experiences of important topics.

We were asked to carry out the evaluation by the National Crime Agency (NCA). The NCA is an independent government body and developed ‘Send Me A Pic?’. This research will help the NCA to make sure the information they produce is as useful as possible for young people like you.

What is this research about?

‘Send Me A Pic?’ is a package of four lessons for secondary school pupils. The lessons aim to help young people understand what nude image based abuse is, including how it can affect them, and how they can handle situations like this.

So that we can see whether the lessons make a difference or not, schools will be randomly selected into one of two groups:

Why are you contacting me?

Your school has agreed to be involved in this important research, and your class has been randomly selected to take part. We have already written to your parent/carer to let them know about the research and that we will be inviting you to be a part of it.

What does taking part involve?

All pupils who participate in this research will complete two short survey questionnaires at school – one at the beginning of the evaluation, and the second after the lessons have been completed. We would like you to take part in both surveys, so that we can understand any change over time.

The surveys will each take about 10 minutes for you to fill out online. They will include a few questions about you, and some questions about fictional scenarios involving nude image sharing. They are not tests – we just want to know what you think. Nobody will see your answers except the research team. They will not be shared with anyone at your school, home, or any other organisation.

At some of the schools in the Group 1, we will also visit one or two lessons and carry out some small group discussions with pupils to understand more about their views and experiences of the lessons. If your school is involved in this way, we will provide more information to everyone invited to take part nearer the time.

Do I have to take part?

No – it’s entirely up to you. Your school has agreed to be part of the research, and your parent or carer has been informed about it, but the decision to participate is yours. If you don’t want to take part in the research, you can just let your teacher know.

If you choose to go ahead and take part, you can skip any questions you don’t want to answer and can stop at any time. If that happens, you don’t need to give a reason.

If you change your mind after taking part, you can ask for your answers not to be included in the research. To remove your information from the research, contact the research team by email or telephone (our contact details are provided at the end of this leaflet).

Will anyone else find out what I have told you?

If you take part, NatCen will treat all the data you provide as confidential and anonymous. This means that we won’t tell anybody outside the research team who has taken part, or which schools have been involved. We will not tell anyone the details of what you say either.

The only exception to this is if you were to tell us that you or somebody else you identified was at risk of serious harm. In this case, the researcher might have to tell someone else, such as the school, the local authority, or the police. Those kinds of details would be shared even if you withdrew from the research.

What happens to the data collected for this project?

The information that we collect will be written up as a report for the NCA and will be published. We may quote individual participants – meaning we may bring a few sentences from people’s answers into the report – but we will not include names or any details that could identify anybody who has taken part, or their school, in any way.

All confidential information relating to this research will be carefully handled. It will be stored securely for research purposes and securely deleted once the evaluation is complete. Further information about how we will use and store your information is provided at https://natcen.ac.uk/evaluation-send-me-pic-privacy-notice.

Do my parents or carers know?

Yes, we also wrote to your parents/carers to tell them about the evaluation of the ‘Send Me a Pic?’ lessons.

What should I do if I do not want to take part?

If you do not want to take part in the research, please let your parents/carers or teacher know.

How can I find out more? 

More information is available at our study website at https://natcen.ac.uk/sendmeapic, and if you have any questions about us or about this project, we would like to hear from you. You can email smap-evaluation@natcen.ac.uk or call Freephone 0808 168 8519.

Thank you for your help!